Rev. Al Sharpton: 'People Should Not Expect Obama to Be a Civil Rights Leader'

It was 45 years ago Thursday when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Senator Barack Obama answered the call of that dream when he became the first African-American in American History to accept the Democratic nomination for President.

There had been speculation all day in regards to whether he can follow up on both Sen. Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton's speeches given over the past couple of days, along with analysis coming from the various news organizations covering the event.

As Roman-like props were being put into place, some have even chastised the campaign for overdoing the event, even though it did not stop the more than 70,000 on hand to hear Obama speak.

However, for an event that is surrounded by historic African-American achievement, familiar civil rights faces like Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have not been seen too much.

According to Sharpton during a Fox News interview on "Your World with Neil Cavuto," he doesn't feel slighted at all.

"In every generation we have people that do different things," he said. "Barack Obama has become the ultimate expression of our being able to expand beyond a racial straight jacket and win."

Sharpton added, "At that same time in this generation we will still engage in civil rights. Barack and I are of the same generation, about six years apart."

Though invited, Rev. Jackson did not appear for the interview, worried that questions of his off-camera words caught by Fox would become a subject of conversation.

Sharpton went on to say that the issue was a done deal in many ways, with Jackson apologizing and Obama accepting the apology. He also said that people should not look for Obama to follow the same path they chose.

"I think that Sen. Barack Obama has stated very plainly on where he has been on issues across the board...and he has made it clear that he is running a campaign for everybody. And we have that history and it has gone all the way nationally with Obama. I think that people should not expect him to be a civil rights leader. That's not what he proposed, that's what we do."

Cavuto went on to touch on bases in regards to former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder who at one point was leading by 20 points in his race for the Governor's seat but won by one point, making the case of people saying they will vote for an African-American, but not following through when they get to the polls.

"I think that is true in the case of Wilder, but that is 1989...I think Americans are better now. They've shown more openness. He won Iowa...We're in a different climate. Guys like me in civil rights will keep trying to close that gap even more but I think that gap has closed a lot. We're going to celebrate it, especially at an event where King's dream is I think being realized more and more. I don't think we're all the way there but we're certainly starting to see people judge people by the contents of their character and not the color of their skin."

Recent Gallup Poll tracking has Obama ahead 48 percent to McCain's 42 percent.

Rasmussen polls have the two men tied.